Alpha-Amylase Mutants with Altered Properties

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to variants (mutants) of parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylases, which variant has alpha-amylase activity and exhibits altered stability, in particular at high temperatures and/or at low pH relative, and/or low Ca 2+  to the parent alpha-amylase.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/572,409 filed Dec. 16, 2014, pending, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/907,024 filed on May 31, 2013, now abandoned,which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/052,373 filed onMar. 21, 2011, now abandoned, which is a divisional of U.S. applicationSer. No. 12/758,346 filed on Apr. 12, 2010, now abandoned, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/645,116 filed on Dec. 22,2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,713,723, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/566,238 filed Sep. 24, 2009, now abandoned,which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/630,203 filedJul. 29, 2003, now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 09/918,543 filed Jul. 31, 2001, now abandoned,which claims the benefit or priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 of DanishApplication Nos. PA 2000 01160, PA 2000 01354, PA 2000 01687 and PA 200100655 filed Aug. 1, 2000, Sep. 12, 2000, Nov. 10, 2000, and Apr. 26,2001, respectively, and U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/225,140,60/233,986, 60/249,104 and 60/286,869 filed on Aug. 14, 2000, Sep. 20,2000, Nov. 16, 2000, and Apr. 26, 2001, respectively, the contents ofwhich are fully incorporated herein by reference.

SEQUENCE LISTING

The present application contains a Sequence Listing in the form of atext file, which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to variants (mutants) of parentTermamyl-like alpha-amylases, which variants have alpha-amylase activityand exhibit an alteration in at least one of the following propertiesrelative to said parent alpha-amylase: stability under, e.g., hightemperature and/or low pH conditions, in particular at low calciumconcentrations. The variants of the invention are suitable for starchconversion, ethanol production, laundry wash, dish wash, hard surfacecleaning, textile desizing, and/or sweetener production.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Alpha-amylases (alpha-1,4-glucan-4-glucanohydrolases, E.C. 3.2.1.1)constitute a group of enzymes, which catalyze hydrolysis of starch andother linear and branched 1,4-glucosidic oligo- and polysaccharides.

BRIEF DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide Termamyl-like amylaseswhich variants in comparison to the corresponding parent alpha-amylase,un-mutated alpha-amylase, have alpha-amylase activity and exhibit analteration in at least one of the following properties relative to saidparent alpha-amylase: stability under, e.g., high temperature and/or lowpH conditions, in particular at low calcium concentrations.

Nomenclature

In the present description and claims, the conventional one-letter andthree-letter codes is for amino acid residues are used. For ease ofreference, alpha-amylase variants of the invention are described by useof the following nomenclature:

-   -   Original amino acid(s): position(s): substituted amino acid(s)

According to this nomenclature, for instance the substitution of alaninefor asparagine in position 30 is shown as:

-   -   Ala30Asn or A30N        a deletion of alanine in the same position is shown as:    -   Ala30* or A30*        and an insertion of an additional amino acid residue, such as        lysine, is shown as:    -   Ala30AlaLys or A30AK

A deletion of a consecutive stretch of amino acid residues, such asamino acid residues 30-33, is indicated as (30-33)* or Δ(A30-N33).

Where a specific alpha-amylase contains a “deletion” in comparison withother alpha-amylases and an insertion is made in such a position this isindicated as:

-   -   *36Asp or *36D        for an insertion of an aspartic acid in position 36.

Multiple mutations are separated by plus signs, i.e.:

-   -   Ala30Asp+Glu34Ser or A30N+E34S        representing mutations in positions 30 and 34 substituting        alanine and glutamic acid for asparagine and serine,        respectively.

When one or more alternative amino acid residues may be inserted in agiven position it is indicated as

-   -   A30N,E or A30N or A30E

Furthermore, when a position suitable for modification is identifiedherein without any specific modification being suggested, it is to beunderstood that any amino acid residue may be substituted for the aminoacid residue present in the position. Thus, for instance, when amodification of an alanine in position 30 is mentioned, but notspecified, it is to be understood that the alanine may be deleted orsubstituted for any other amino acid, i.e., any one of:

R, N, D, A, C, Q, E, G, H, I, L, K, M, F, P, S, T, W, Y, V.

Further, “A30X” means any one of the following substitutions:

A30R, A30N, A30D, A300, A30Q, A30E, A30G, A30H, A301, A30L, A30K, A30M,A30F, A30P, A30S, A30T, A30W, A30Y, or A30V; or in short: A30R, N, D, C,Q, E, G, H, I, L, K, M, F, P, S, T, W, Y, V.

If the parent enzyme—used for the numbering—already has the amino acidresidue in question suggested for substitution in that position thefollowing nomenclature is used:

-   -   “X30N” or “X30N,V”        in the case where for instance one or N or V is present in the        wildtype.

Thus, it means that other corresponding parent enzymes are substitutedto an “Asn” or “Val” in position 30.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A, 1B and 10 provide an alignment of the amino acid sequences offive parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylases. The numbers on the extremeleft designate the respective amino acid sequences as follows:

1: SEQ ID NO: 4 (SP722) 2: SEQ ID NO: 2 (SP690) 3: SEQ ID NO: 10 (BAN)4: SEQ ID NO: 8 (BLA) 5: SEQ ID NO: 6 (BSG). DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THEINVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide Termamyl-likeamylases, which variants have alpha-amylase activity and exhibitsaltered stability at high temperatures and/or at low pH, in particularat low calcium concentrations.

Termamyl-Like Alpha-Amylases

A number of alpha-amylases produced by Bacillus spp. are highlyhomologous (identical) on the amino acid level.

The identity of a number of known Bacillus alpha-amylases can be foundin the below Table 1:

TABLE 1 Percent identity 707 AP1378 BAN BSG SP690 SP722 AA560 Termamyl707 100.0 86.4 66.9 66.5 87.6 86.2 95.5 68.1 AP1378 86.4 100.0 67.1 68.195.1 86.6 86.0 69.4 BAN 66.9 67.1 100.0 65.6 67.1 68.8 66.9 80.7 BSG66.5 68.1 65.6 100.0 67.9 67.1 66.3 65.4 SP690 87.6 95.1 67.1 67.9 100.087.2 87.0 69.2 SP722 86.2 86.6 68.8 67.1 87.2 100.0 86.8 70.8 AA560 95.586.0 66.9 66.3 87.0 86.8 100.0 68.3 Termamyl 68.1 69.4 80.7 65.4 69.270.8 68.3 100.0

For instance, the B. licheniformis alpha-amylase comprising the aminoacid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 8 (commercially available asTermamyl™) has been found to be about 81% homologous with the B.amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase comprising the amino acid sequence shownin SEQ ID NO: 10 and about 65% homologous with the B. stearothermophilusalpha-amylase (BSG) comprising the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ IDNO: 6. Further homologous alpha-amylases include SP690 and SP722disclosed in WO 95/26397 and further depicted in SEQ ID NO: 2 and SEQ IDNO: 4, respectively, herein. Other amylases are the AA560 alpha-amylasederived from Bacillus sp. and shown in SEQ ID NO: 12, and the #707alpha-amylase derived from Bacillus sp., shown in SEQ ID NO: 13 anddescribed by Tsukamoto et al., 1988, Biochemical and BiophysicalResearch Communications 151: 25-31.

The KSM AP1378 alpha-amylase is disclosed in WO 97/00324 (from KaoCorporation).

Still further homologous alpha-amylases include the alpha-amylaseproduced by the B. licheniformis strain described in EP 252666 (ATCC27811), and the alpha-amylases identified in WO 91/00353 and WO94/18314. Other commercial Termamyl-like alpha-amylases are comprised inthe products sold under the following tradenames: Optitherm™ andTakatherm™ (Solvay); Maxamyl™ (available from Gist-brocades/Genencor),Spezym AA™ and Spezyme Delta AA™ (available from Genencor), andKeistase™ (available from Daiwa), Dex lo, GC 521 (available fromGenencor) and Ultraphlow (from Enzyme Biosystems).

Because of the substantial homology found between these alpha-amylases,they are considered to belong to the same class of alpha-amylases,namely the class of “Termamyl-like alpha-amylases”.

Accordingly, in the present context, the term “Termamyl-likealpha-amylase” is intended to indicate an alpha-amylase, in particularBacillus alpha-amylase, which, at the amino acid level, exhibits asubstantial identity to Termamyl™, i.e., the B. licheniformisalpha-amylase having the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 8.

In other words, all of the following alpha-amylases, which have theamino acid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOS: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 13, areconsidered to be Termamyl-like alpha-amylases. Other Termamyl-likealpha-amylases are alpha-amylases i) which display at least 60%, such asat least 70%, e.g., at least 75%, or at least 80%, at least 85%, atleast 90%, at least 95%, at least 97%, at least 99% homology (identity)with at least one of said amino acid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOS: 2,4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 13, and/or are encoded by a DNA sequence whichhybridizes to the DNA sequences encoding the above-specifiedalpha-amylases which are apparent from SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and ofthe present specification (which encoding sequences encode the aminoacid sequences shown in SEQ ID NOS: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12,respectively).

Homology

The homology may be determined as the degree of identity between the twosequences indicating a derivation of the first sequence from the second.The homology may suitably be determined by means of computer programsknown in the art such as GAP provided in the GCG program package(described above). Thus, Gap GCGv8 may be used with the default scoringmatrix for identity and the following default parameters: GAP creationpenalty of 5.0 and GAP extension penalty of 0.3, respectively fornucleic acidic sequence comparison, and GAP creation penalty of 3.0 andGAP extension penalty of 0.1, respectively, for protein sequencecomparison. GAP uses the method of Needleman and Wunsch, 1970, J. Mol.Biol. 48: 443-453, to make alignments and to calculate the identity.

A structural alignment between Termamyl (SEQ ID NO: 8) and, e.g.,another alpha-amylase may be used to identify equivalent/correspondingpositions in other Termamyl-like alpha-amylases. One method of obtainingsaid structural alignment is to use the Pile Up programme from the GCGpackage using default values of gap penalties, i.e., a gap creationpenalty of 3.0 and gap extension penalty of 0.1. Other structuralalignment methods include the hydrophobic cluster analysis (Gaboriaud etal., 1987, FEBS Letters 224: 149-155) and reverse threading (Huber andTorda, 1998, Protein Science 7(1): 142-149).

Hybridization

The oligonucleotide probe used in the characterization of theTermamyl-like alpha-amylase above may suitably be prepared on the basisof the full or partial nucleotide or amino acid sequence of thealpha-amylase in question.

Suitable conditions for testing hybridization involve pre-soaking in5×SSC and prehybridizing for 1 hour at 40° C. in a solution of 20%formamide, 5×Denhardt's solution, 50 mM sodium phosphate, pH 6.8, and 50mg of denatured sonicated calf thymus DNA, followed by hybridization inthe same solution supplemented with 100 mM ATP for 18 hours at 40° C.,followed by three times washing of the filter in 2×SSC, 0.2% SDS at 40°C. for 30 minutes (low stringency), preferably at 50° C. (mediumstringency), more preferably at 65° C. (high stringency), even morepreferably at 75° C. (very high stringency). More details about thehybridization method can be found in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning:A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor, 1989.

In the present context, “derived from” is intended not only to indicatean alpha-amylase produced or producible by a strain of the organism inquestion, but also an alpha-amylase encoded by a DNA sequence isolatedfrom such strain and produced in a host organism transformed with saidDNA sequence. Finally, the term is intended to indicate analpha-amylase, which is encoded by a DNA sequence of synthetic and/orcDNA origin and which has the identifying characteristics of thealpha-amylase in question. The term is also intended to indicate thatthe parent alpha-amylase may be a variant of a naturally occurringalpha-amylase, i.e., a variant, which is the result of a modification(insertion, substitution, deletion) of one or more amino acid residuesof the naturally occurring alpha-amylase.

Parent Termamyl-Like Alpha-Amylases

According to the invention all Termamy-like alpha-amylases, as definedabove, may be used as the parent (i.e., backbone) alpha-amylase. In apreferred embodiment of the invention the parent alpha-amylase isderived from B. licheniformis, e.g., one of those referred to above,such as the B. licheniformis alpha-amylase having the amino acidsequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 8.

Parent Hybrid Termamyl-Like Alpha-Amylases

The parent alpha-amylase (i.e., backbone alpha-amylase) may also be ahybrid alpha-amylase, i.e., an alpha-amylase, which comprises acombination of partial amino acid sequences derived from at least twoalpha-amylases.

The parent hybrid alpha-amylase may be one, which on the basis of aminoacid homology (identity) and/or DNA hybridization (as defined above) canbe determined to belong to the Termamyl-like alpha-amylase family. Inthis case, the hybrid alpha-amylase is typically composed of at leastone part of a Termamyl-like alpha-amylase and part(s) of one or moreother alpha-amylases selected from Termamyl-like alpha-amylases ornon-Termamyl-like alpha-amylases of microbial (bacterial or fungal)and/or mammalian origin.

Thus, the parent hybrid alpha-amylase may comprise a combination ofpartial amino acid sequences deriving from at least two Termamyl-likealpha-amylases, or from at least one Termamyl-like and at least onenon-Termamyl-like bacterial alpha-amylase, or from at least oneTermamyl-like and at least one fungal alpha-amylase. The Termamyl-likealpha-amylase from which a partial amino acid sequence derives, may beany of the specific Termamyl-like alpha-amylase referred to herein.

For instance, the parent alpha-amylase may comprise a C-terminal part ofan alpha-amylase derived from a strain of B. licheniformis, and aN-terminal part of an alpha-amylase derived from a strain of B.amyloliquefaciens or from a strain of B. stearothermophilus. Forinstance, the parent alpha-amylase may comprise at least 430 amino acidresidues of the C-terminal part of the B. licheniformis alpha-amylase,and may, e.g., comprise a) an amino acid segment corresponding to the 37N-terminal amino acid residues of the B. amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylasehaving the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 10 and an amino acidsegment corresponding to the 445 C-terminal amino acid residues of theB. licheniformis alpha-amylase having the amino acid sequence shown inSEQ ID NO: 8, or a hybrid Termamyl-like alpha-amylase being identical tothe Termamyl sequence, i.e., the Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylaseshown in SEQ ID NO: 8, except that the N-terminal 35 amino acid residues(of the mature protein) has been replaced by the N-terminal 33 residuesof BAN (mature protein), i.e., the Bacillus amyloliquefaciensalpha-amylase shown in SEQ ID NO: 10; or b) an amino acid segmentcorresponding to the 68 N-terminal amino acid residues of the B.stearothermophilus alpha-amylase having the amino acid sequence shown inSEQ ID NO: 6 and an amino acid segment corresponding to the 415C-terminal amino acid residues of the B. licheniformis alpha-amylasehaving the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 8.

Another suitable parent hybrid alpha-amylase is the one previouslydescribed in WO 96/23874 (from Novo Nordisk) constituting the N-terminusof BAN, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase (amino acids 1-300 ofthe mature protein) and the C-terminus from Termamyl (amino acids301-483 of the mature protein).

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the parent Termamyl-likealpha-amylase is a hybrid alpha-amylase of SEQ ID NO: 8 and SEQ ID NO:10. Specifically, the parent hybrid Termamyl-like alpha-amylase may be ahybrid alpha-amylase comprising the 445 C-terminal amino acid residuesof the B. licheniformis alpha-amylase shown in SEQ ID NO: 8 and the 37N-terminal amino acid residues of the alpha-amylase derived from B.amyloliquefaciens shown in SEQ ID NO: 10, which may suitably furtherhave the following mutations: H156Y+A181T+N190F+A209V+Q264S (using thenumbering in SEQ ID NO: 8). The latter mentioned hybrid is used in theexamples below and is referred to as LE174.

Other specifically contemplated parent alpha-amylase include LE174 withfewer mutations, i.e., the right above mentioned hydrid having thefollowing mutations: H156Y+A181T+N190F; H156Y+A181T+N190F+A209V;H156Y+A181T+N190F+Q264S; H156Y+A181T+A209V+Q264S; H156Y+A181T+Q264S;H156Y+N190F+A209V+Q264S; H156Y+A209V+Q264S; H156Y+Q264S;A181T+N190F+A209V+Q264S; N190F+A209V+Q264S; A209V+Q264S; and Q264S.These hybrids are also considered to be part of the invention.

In a preferred embodiment the parent Termamyl-like alpha amylase isLE174, SP722, or AA560 including any of

LE174+G48A+T49I+G107A+M197L+I201F; LE174+G48A+T49I+G107A+I201F;LE174+M197L; SP722+D183*+G184*; SP722+D183*+G184*+N195F;SP722+D183*+G184*+N195F+M202L; SP722+D183*+G184*+M202L; BSG+I181*+G182*;BSG+I181*+G182*+N193F; BSG+I181*+G182*+N193F+M200L;BSG+I181*+G182*+M200L; AA560+D183*+G184*; AA560+D183*+G184*+N195F;AA560+D183*+G184*+N195F+M202L; and AA560+D183*+G184*+M202L.

Other parent alpha-amylases contemplated include LE429, which is LE174with an additional substitution in I201F. According to the inventionLE335 is the alpha-amylase, which in comparison to LE429 has additionalsubstitutions in T49I+G107A; LE399 is LE335+G48A, i.e., LE174, withG48A+T49I+G107A+I201F.

Altered Properties

The following section discusses the relationship between mutations,which are present in variants of the invention, and desirablealterations in properties (relative to those of a parent Termamyl-likealpha-amylase), which may result therefrom.

As mentioned above the invention relates to Termamyl-like alpha-amylaseswith altered properties (as mentioned above), in particular at hightemperatures and/or at low pH, in particular at low calciumconcentrations.

In the context of the present invention “high temperature” meanstemperatures from 70-120° C., preferably 80-100° C., especially 85-95°C.

In the context of the present invention the term “low pH” means from apH in the range from 4-6, preferably 4.2-5.5, especially 4.5-5.

In the context of the present invention the term “high pH” means from apH in the range from 8-11, especially 8.5-10.6.

In the context of the present invention the term “low calciumconcentration” means free calcium levels lower than 60 ppm, preferably40 ppm, more preferably 25 ppm, especially 5 ppm calcium.

Parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylase specifically contemplated inconnection with going through the specifically contemplated alteredproperties are the above mentioned parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylaseand parent hydrid Termamyl-like alpha-amylases.

The Termamyl® alpha-amylase is used as the starting point, butcorresponding positions in, e.g., SP722, BSG, BAN, AA560, SP690, KSMAP1378, and #707 should be understood as disclosed and specificallycomtemplated too.

In a preferred embodiment the variant of the invention has in particularat high temperatures and/or at low pH.

In an aspect the invention relates to variant with altered properties asmentioned above.

In the first aspect a variant of a parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylase,comprising an alteration at one or more positions (using SEQ ID NO: 8for the amino acid numbering) selected from the group of:

49, 60, 104, 132, 161, 170, 176, 179, 180, 181, 183, 200, 203, 204, 207,212, 237, 239, 250, 280, 298, 318, 374, 385, 393, 402, 406, 427, 430,440, 444, 447, 482,wherein

(a) the alteration(s) are independently

-   -   (i) an insertion of an amino acid downstream of the amino acid        which occupies the position,    -   (ii) a deletion of the amino acid which occupies the position,        or    -   (iii) a substitution of the amino acid which occupies the        position with a different amino acid,

(b) the variant has alpha-amylase activity and

(c) each position corresponds to a position of the amino acid sequenceof the parent Termamyl-like alpha-amylase having the amino acid sequenceshown in SEQ ID NO: 8.

In Termamyl® (SEQ ID NO: 8) such corresponding positions are:

T49; D60; N104; E132; D161; K170; K176; G179; K180; A181; D183; D200;Y203; D204; D207; I212; K237; S239; E250; N280; Q298; L318; Q374; E385;Q393; Y402; H406; L427; D430; V440; N444; E447; Q482.

In SP722 (SEQ ID NO: 4) the corresponding positions are:

T51; D62; N106; D134; D163; Q172; K179; G184; K185; A186; D188; D205;M208; D209; X212; L217, K242, S244, N255, N285, S303, M323; D387, N395;Y404; H408; 1429; D432; V442; K446; Q449; K484.

Corresponding positions in other parent alpha-amylases can be found byalignment as described above and shown in the alignment in FIG. 1.

In a preferred embodiment the variant of the invention (using SEQ ID NO:8 (Termamyl™) for the numbering) has one or more of the followingsubstitutions:

T49I; D60N; N104D; E132A,V,P; D161N; K170Q; K176R; G179N; K180T; A181N;D183N; D200N; X203Y; D204S; D207V,E,L,G; X212I; K237P; S239W; E250G,F;N280S; X298Q; L318M; Q374R; E385V; Q393R; Y402F; H406L,W; L427I; D430N;V440A; N444R,K; E447Q,K; Q482K.

In a preferred embodiment the variant of the invention (using SEQ ID NO:4 (SP722) for the numbering) has one or more of the followingsubstitutions: T511; D62N; N106D; D134A,V,P; D163N; X172Q; K179R; G184N;K185T; A186N; D188N; D205N; M208Y; D209S; X212V,E,L,G; L217I, K242P,S244W, N255G,F, N285S, S303Q, X323M; D387V, N395R; Y404F; H408L,W;X429I; D432N; V442A; X446R,K; X449Q,K; X484K, using SEQ ID NO: 4 (SP722)for numbering.

Preferred double, triple and multi-mutations—using SEQ ID NO: 8 as thebasis for the numbering—are selected from the group consisting of:

T49I+D60N; T49I+D60N+E132A; T49I+D60N+E132V; T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q; T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R; T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V; T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;T49I+D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;D60N+E132A; D60N+E132A+K170Q; D60N+E132V; D60N+E132V+K170Q;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R; T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V; T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E; T49I+D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G; D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G; D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;D60N+E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;D60N+E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;E132A+K170Q; E132A+K170Q+K176R; E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G; E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G; E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;E132V+K170Q; E132V+K170Q+K176R; E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G; E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V; E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;E132V+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;E132A+K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;K170Q+K176R; K170Q+K176R+D207V; K170Q+K176R+D207E;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G; K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S; K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;K170Q+K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;K170Q+K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;K176R+D207V; K176R+D207E; K176R+D207V+E250G; K176R+D207E+E250G;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S; K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M; K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;K176R+D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;K176R+D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;D207V+E250G; D207E+E250G; D207V+E250G+N280S; D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M; D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R; D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;D207V+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;D207E+E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;E250G+N280S; E250G+N280S+L318M; E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R;E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V; E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;E250G+N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;N280S+L318M; N280S+L318M+Q374R; N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V;N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R; N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;N280S+L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A; L318M+Q374R;L318M+Q374R+E385V; L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R;L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F; L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;L318M+Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A; Q374R+E385V;Q374R+E385V+Q393R; Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F;Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L; Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;Q374R+E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A; E385V+Q393R;E385V+Q393R+Y402F; E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L;E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I; E385V+Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A;Q393R+Y402F; Q393R+Y402F+H406L; Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I;Q393R+Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A; Y402F+H406L; Y402F+H406L+L427I;Y402F+H406L+L427I+V440A; H406L+L427I; H406L+L427I+V440A; L427I+V440A;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482K;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482K;D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482K;D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+E447Q+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+E447Q+Q482K;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+E447Q+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N;H406W+D430N; N444K+E447Q+Q482K; E447Q+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444R+N444K+E447K+Q482K;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444R+N444K+E447K+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W; H406W+D430N;N444K+E447K+Q482K; E447K+Q482K;N104D+D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W;N104D+D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P;N104D+D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S;D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W;D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P;

D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S; K237P+S239W, using SEQ ID NO: 8 fornumbering.

In a preferred embodiment the variant has the following substitutions:K170Q+D207V+N280S; E132A+D207V; D207E+E250G+H406L+L427I; D207V+L318M;D60N+D207V+L318M; T49I+E132V+V440A; T49I+K176R+D207V+Y402F;Q374R+E385V+Q393R; N190F+A209V+Q264S; G48A+T49I+G107A+I201F;T49I+G107A+I201F; G48A+T49I+I201F; G48A+T49I+G107A; T49I+I201F;T49I+G107A; G48A+T49I;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482Kusing SEQ ID NO: 8 for numbering.

Specific variants include: LE399; LE174+G48A+T49I+G107A;LE174+G48A+T49I+I201F; LE174+G48A+G107A+I201F; LE174+T49I+G107A+I201F;LE174+G48A+T49I; LE174+G48A; LE174+G107A+I201F; and LE174+I201F.

Stability

In the context of the present invention, mutations (including amino acidsubstitutions and deletions) of importance with respect to achievingaltered stability, in particular improved stability (i.e., higher orlower), at especially high temperatures (i.e., 70-120° C.) and/orextreme pH (i.e., low or high pH, i.e., pH 4-6 or pH 8-11,respectively), in particular at free (i.e., unbound, therefore insolution) calcium concentrations below 60 ppm, include any of themutations listed in the “Altered properties” section. The stability maybe determined as described in the “Materials & Methods” section below.

General Mutations in Variants of the Invention

A variant of the invention may in one embodiment comprise one or moremodifications in addition to those outlined above. Thus, it may beadvantageous that one or more proline (Pro) residues present in the partof the alpha-amylase variant which is modified is/are replaced with anon-proline residue which may be any of the possible, naturallyoccurring non-proline residues, and which preferably is an alanine,glycine, serine, threonine, valine or leucine.

Analogously, in one embodiment one or more cysteine residues present inthe parent alpha-amylase may be replaced with a non-cysteine residuesuch as serine, alanine, threonine, glycine, valine or leucine.

Furthermore, a variant of the invention may—either as the onlymodification or in combination with any of the above outlinedmodifications—be modified so that one or more Asp and/or Glu present inan amino acid fragment corresponding to the amino acid fragment 185-209of SEQ ID NO: 10 is replaced by an Asn and/or Gln, respectively. Also ofinterest is the replacement, in the Termamyl-like alpha-amylase, of oneor more of the Lys residues present in an amino acid fragmentcorresponding to the amino acid fragment 185-209 of SEQ ID NO: 10 by anArg.

It is to be understood that the present invention encompasses variantsincorporating two or more of the above outlined modifications.

Furthermore, it may be advantageous to introduce mutations in one ormore of the following positions (using SEQ ID NO: 8 (Termamyl) fornumbering): M15, V128, A111, H133, W138, T149, M197, N188, A209, A210,H405, T412, in particular the following single, double or triple ormulti mutations:

M15X, in particular M15T,L;V128X, in particular V128E;H133X, in particular H133Y;N188X, in particular N188S,T,P;M197X, in particular M197T,L;A209X, in particular A209V;

M197T/W138F; M197T/W138Y; M15T/H133Y/N188S; M15/V128E/H133Y/N188S;E119C/S130C; D124C/R127C; H133Y/T1491; G475R, H133Y/S187D; H133Y/A209V.Methods for Preparing Alpha-Amylase Variants of the Invention

Several methods for introducing mutations into genes are known in theart. After a brief description of cloning of alpha-amylase-encoding DNAsequences, methods for generating mutations at specific sites within thealpha-amylase-encoding sequence will be described.

Cloning a DNA Sequence Encoding an Alpha-Amylase

The DNA sequence encoding a parent alpha-amylase may be isolated fromany cell or microorganism producing the alpha-amylase in question, usingvarious methods well known in the art. First, a genomic DNA and/or cDNAlibrary should be constructed using chromosomal DNA or messenger RNAfrom the organism that produces the alpha-amylase to be studied. Then,if the amino acid sequence of the alpha-amylase is known, homologous,labeled oligonucleotide probes may be synthesized and used to identifyalpha-amylase-encoding clones from a genomic library prepared from theorganism in question. Alternatively, a labeled oligonucleotide probecontaining sequences homologous to a known alpha-amylase gene could beused as a probe to identify alpha-amylase-encoding clones, usinghybridization and washing conditions of lower stringency.

Yet another method for identifying alpha-amylase-encoding clones wouldinvolve inserting fragments of genomic DNA into an expression vector,such as a plasmid, transforming alpha-amylase-negative bacteria with theresulting genomic DNA library, and then plating the transformed bacteriaonto agar containing a substrate for alpha-amylase, thereby allowingclones expressing the alpha-amylase to be identified.

Alternatively, the DNA sequence encoding the enzyme may be preparedsynthetically by established standard methods, e.g., thephosphoroamidite method described by Beaucage and Caruthers, 1981,Tetrahedron Letters 22: 1859-1869, or the method described by Matthes etal., 1984, The EMBO J. 3: 801-805. In the phosphoroamidite method,oligonucleotides are synthesized, e.g., in an automatic DNA synthesizer,purified, annealed, ligated and cloned in appropriate vectors.

Finally, the DNA sequence may be of mixed genomic and synthetic origin,mixed synthetic and cDNA origin or mixed genomic and cDNA origin,prepared by ligating fragments of synthetic, genomic or cDNA origin (asappropriate, the fragments corresponding to various parts of the entireDNA sequence), in accordance with standard techniques. The DNA sequencemay also be prepared by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using specificprimers, for instance as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,202 or Saikiet al., 1988, Science 239: 487-491.

Site-Directed Mutagenesis

Once an alpha-amylase-encoding DNA sequence has been isolated, anddesirable sites for mutation identified, mutations may be introducedusing synthetic oligonucleotides. These oligonucleotides containnucleotide sequences flanking the desired mutation sites; mutantnucleotides are inserted during oligonucleotide synthesis. In a specificmethod, a single-stranded gap of DNA, bridging thealpha-amylase-encoding sequence, is created in a vector carrying thealpha-amylase gene. Then the synthetic nucleotide, bearing the desiredmutation, is annealed to a homologous portion of the single-strandedDNA. The remaining gap is then filled in with DNA polymerase I (Klenowfragment) and the construct is ligated using T4 ligase. A specificexample of this method is described in Morinaga et al. (1984). U.S. Pat.No. 4,760,025 discloses the introduction of oligonucleotides encodingmultiple mutations by performing minor alterations of the cassette.However, an even greater variety of mutations can be introduced at anyone time by the Morinaga method, because a multitude ofoligonucleotides, of various lengths, can be introduced.

Another method for introducing mutations into alpha-amylase-encoding DNAsequences is described in Nelson and Long (1989). It involves the 3-stepgeneration of a PCR fragment containing the desired mutation introducedby using a chemically synthesized DNA strand as one of the primers inthe PCR reactions. From the PCR-generated fragment, a DNA fragmentcarrying the mutation may be isolated by cleavage with restrictionendonucleases and reinserted into an expression plasmid.

Alternative methods for providing variants of the invention include geneshuffling, e.g., as described in WO 95/22625 (from Affymax TechnologiesN.V.) or in WO 96/00343 (from Novo Nordisk A/S), or other correspondingtechniques resulting in a hybrid enzyme comprising the mutation(s),e.g., substitution(s) and/or deletion(s), in question. Examples ofparent alpha-amylases, which suitably may be used for providing a hybridwith the desired mutations(s) according to the invention include theKSM-K36 and KSM-K38 alpha-amylases disclosed in EP 1022334 (herebyincorporated by reference).

Expression of Alpha-Amylase Variants

According to the invention, a DNA sequence encoding the variant producedby methods described above, or by any alternative methods known in theart, can be expressed, in enzyme form, using an expression vector whichtypically includes control sequences encoding a promoter, operator,ribosome binding site, translation initiation signal, and, optionally, arepressor gene or various activator genes.

The recombinant expression vector carrying the DNA sequence encoding analpha-amylase variant of the invention may be any vector, which mayconveniently be subjected to recombinant DNA procedures, and the choiceof vector will often depend on the host cell into which it is to beintroduced. Thus, the vector may be an autonomously replicating vector,i.e., a vector which exists as an extrachromosomal entity, thereplication of which is independent of chromosomal replication, e.g., aplasmid, a bacteriophage or an extrachromosomal element, minichromosomeor an artificial chromosome. Alternatively, the vector may be one which,when introduced into a host cell, is integrated into the host cellgenome and replicated together with the chromosome(s) into which it hasbeen integrated.

In the vector, the DNA sequence should be operably connected to asuitable promoter sequence. The promoter may be any DNA sequence, whichshows transcriptional activity in the host cell of choice and may bederived from genes encoding proteins either homologous or heterologousto the host cell. Examples of suitable promoters for directing thetranscription of the DNA sequence encoding an alpha-amylase variant ofthe invention, especially in a bacterial host, are the promoter of thelac operon of E. coli, the Streptomyces coelicolor agarase gene dagApromoters, the promoters of the Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylasegene (amyL), the promoters of the Bacillus stearothermophilus maltogenicamylase gene (amyM), the promoters of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciensalpha-amylase (amyQ), the promoters of the Bacillus subtilis xylA andxylB genes etc. For transcription in a fungal host, examples of usefulpromoters are those derived from the gene encoding A. oryzae TAKAamylase, Rhizomucor miehei aspartic proteinase, A. niger neutralalpha-amylase, A. niger acid stable alpha-amylase, A. nigerglucoamylase, Rhizomucor miehei lipase, A. oryzae alkaline protease, A.oryzae triose phosphate isomerase or A. nidulans acetamidase.

The expression vector of the invention may also comprise a suitabletranscription terminator and, in eukaryotes, polyadenylation sequencesoperably connected to the DNA sequence encoding the alpha-amylasevariant of the invention. Termination and polyadenylation sequences maysuitably be derived from the same sources as the promoter.

The vector may further comprise a DNA sequence enabling the vector toreplicate in the is host cell in question. Examples of such sequencesare the origins of replication of plasmids pUC19, pACYC177, pUB110,pE194, pAMB1 and pIJ702.

The vector may also comprise a selectable marker, e.g., a gene theproduct of which complements a defect in the host cell, such as the dalgenes from B. subtilis or B. licheniformis, or one which confersantibiotic resistance such as ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol ortetracyclin resistance. Furthermore, the vector may comprise Aspergillusselection markers such as amdS, argB, niaD and sC, a marker giving riseto hygromycin resistance, or the selection may be accomplished byco-transformation, e.g., as described in WO 91/17243.

While intracellular expression may be advantageous in some respects,e.g., when using certain bacteria as host cells, it is generallypreferred that the expression is extracellular. In general, the Bacillusalpha-amylases mentioned herein comprise a preregion permittingsecretion of the expressed protease into the culture medium. Ifdesirable, this preregion may be replaced by a different preregion orsignal sequence, conveniently accomplished by substitution of the DNAsequences encoding the respective preregions.

The procedures used to ligate the DNA construct of the inventionencoding an alpha-amylase variant, the promoter, terminator and otherelements, respectively, and to insert them into suitable vectorscontaining the information necessary for replication, are well known topersons skilled in the art (cf., for instance, Sambrook et al.,Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed., Cold Spring Harbor,1989).

The cell of the invention, either comprising a DNA construct or anexpression vector of the invention as defined above, is advantageouslyused as a host cell in the recombinant production of an alpha-amylasevariant of the invention. The cell may be transformed with the DNAconstruct of the invention encoding the variant, conveniently byintegrating the DNA construct (in one or more copies) in the hostchromosome. This integration is generally considered to be an advantageas the DNA sequence is more likely to be stably maintained in the cell.Integration of the DNA constructs into the host chromosome may beperformed according to conventional methods, e.g., by homologous orheterologous recombination. Alternatively, the cell may be transformedwith an expression vector as described above in connection with thedifferent types of host cells.

The cell of the invention may be a cell of a higher organism such as amammal or an insect, but is preferably a microbial cell, e.g., abacterial or a fungal (including yeast) cell.

Examples of suitable bacteria are gram-positive bacteria such asBacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus lentus, Bacillusbrevis, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus alkalophilus, Bacillusamyloliquefaciens, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus circulans, Bacilluslautus, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, or Streptomyceslividans or Streptomyces murinus, or gram-negative bacteria such as E.coli. The transformation of the bacteria may, for instance, be effectedby protoplast transformation or by using competent cells in a mannerknown per se.

The yeast organism may favorably be selected from a species ofSaccharomyces or Schizosaccharomyces, e.g., Saccharomyces cerevisiae.The filamentous fungus may advantageously belong to a species ofAspergillus, e.g., Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus niger. Fungal cellsmay be transformed by a process involving protoplast formation andtransformation of the protoplasts followed by regeneration of the cellwall in a manner known per se. A suitable procedure for transformationof Aspergillus host cells is described in EP 238023.

In a yet further aspect, the present invention relates to a method ofproducing an alpha-amylase variant of the invention, which methodcomprises cultivating a host cell as described above under conditionsconducive to the production of the variant and recovering the variantfrom the cells and/or culture medium.

The medium used to cultivate the cells may be any conventional mediumsuitable for growing the host cell in question and obtaining expressionof the alpha-amylase variant of the invention. Suitable media areavailable from commercial suppliers or may be prepared according topublished recipes (e.g., as described in catalogues of the American TypeCulture Collection).

The alpha-amylase variant secreted from the host cells may convenientlybe recovered from the culture medium by well-known procedures, includingseparating the cells from the medium by centrifugation or filtration,and precipitating proteinaceous components of the medium by means of asalt such as ammonium sulphate, followed by the use of chromatographicprocedures such as ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography,or the like.

Industrial Applications

The alpha-amylase variants of this invention possess valuable propertiesallowing for a variety of industrial applications. In particular, enzymevariants of the invention are applicable as a component in washing,dishwashing, and hard surface cleaning detergent compositions.

Variant of the invention with altered properties may be used for starchprocesses, in particular starch conversion, especially liquefaction ofstarch (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,590, EP 252730 and EP 063909, WO99/19467, and WO 96/28567, which are all hereby incorporated byreference). Also contemplated are compositions for starch conversionpurposes, which may beside the variant of the invention also comprise anAMG, pullulanase, and other alpha-amylases.

Further, variants of the invention are also particularly useful in theproduction of sweeteners and ethanol (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,017hereby incorporated by reference), such as fuel, drinking and industrialethanol, from starch or whole grains.

A variant of the invention may also be used for textile desizing (see,e.g., WO 95/21247, U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,736, and EP 119920, which arehereby incorporated by reference).

Detergent Compositions

As mentioned above, variants of the invention may suitably beincorporated in detergent compositions. Reference is made, for example,to WO 96/23874 and WO 97/07202 for further details concerning relevantingredients of detergent compositions (such as laundry or dishwashingdetergents), appropriate methods of formulating the variants in suchdetergent compositions, and for examples of relevant types of detergentcompositions.

Detergent compositions comprising a variant of the invention mayadditionally comprise one or more other enzymes, such as a protease, alipase, a peroxidase, another amylolytic enzyme, glucoamylase,maltogenic amylase, CGTase and/or a cellulase, mannanase (such asMannaway™ from Novozymes, Denmark)), pectinase, pectine lyase, cutinase,laccase, and/or another alpha-amylase.

Alpha-amylase variants of the invention may be incorporated indetergents at conventionally employed concentrations. It is at presentcontemplated that a variant of the invention may be incorporated in anamount corresponding to 0.00001-10 mg (calculated as pure, active enzymeprotein) of alpha-amylase per liter of wash/dishwash liquor usingconventional dosing levels of detergent.

Compositions

The invention also relates to a composition comprising a variant of theinvention, and in a preferred embodiment also a B. stearothermophilusalpha-amylase (BSG), in particular a variant thereof.

In another embodiment the composition comprises besides a variant of theinvention, a glucoamylase, in particular a glucoamylase originating fromAspergillus niger (e.g., the G1 or G2 A. niger AMG disclosed in Boel etal., 1984, “Glucoamylases G1 and G2 from Aspergillus niger aresynthesized from two different but closely related mRNAs”, EMBO J. 3(5):1097-1102, or a variant therefore, in particular a variant disclosed inWO 00/04136 or WO 01/04273 or the Talaromyces emersonii AMG disclosed inWO 99/28448.

A specific combination is LE399 and a variant disclosed in WO 00/04136or WO 01/04273, in particular a variant with one or more of thefollowing substitutions: N9A, S56A, V59A, S119P, A246T, N313G, E342T,A393R, S394R, Y402F, E408R, in particular a variant with all mutation.

In an embodiment the composition of the invention also comprises apullulanase, in particular a Bacillus pullulanase.

Materials and Methods Enzymes:

Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase shown in SEQ ID NO: 8 and alsoavailable from Novozymes.AA560: SEQ ID NO: 12; disclosed in WO 00/60060; deposited on 25Jan. 1999at DSMZ and assigned the DSMZ no. 12649. AA560 was deposited by theinventors under the terms of the Budapest Treaty on the InternationalRecognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of PatentProcedure at Deutshe Sammmlung von Microorganismen and Zellkulturen GmbH(DSMZ), Mascheroder Weg 1b, D-38124 Braunschweig DE.LB medium (In 1 liter H₂O: 10 g bacto-tryptone, 5 g bacto-yeast extract,10 g NaCl, pH adjusted to 7.0 w. NaOH, autoclaved).TY agar plates (In 1 liter H₂O: 16 g bacto-tryptone, 10 g bacto-yeastextract, 5 g NaCl, pH adjusted to 7.0 w. NaOH, and 15 g bacto-agar isadded prior to autoclaving).10% Lugol solution (Iodine/Potassium iodine solution; made by 10-folddil. in H₂O of stock: Sigma Cat. no. L 6146).Bacillus subtilis SHA273: see WO 95/10603

Plasmids

pDN1528 contains the complete gene encoding Termamyl, amyL, theexpression of which is directed by its own promoter. Further, theplasmid contains the origin of replication, ori, from plasmid pUB110 andthe cat gene from plasmid pC194 conferring resistance towardschloramphenicol. pDN1528 is shown in FIG. 9 of WO 96/23874.

Methods: Low pH Filter Assay

Bacillus libraries are plated on a sandwich of cellulose acetate (OE 67,Schleicher & Schuell, Dassel, Germany)—and nitrocellulose filters(Protran-Ba 85, Schleicher & Schuell, Dassel, Germany) on TY agar plateswith 10 micrograms/ml chloramphenicol at 37° C. for at least 21 hours.The cellulose acetate layer is located on the TY agar plate.

Each filter sandwich is specifically marked with a needle after plating,but before incubation in order to be able to localize positive variantson the filter, and the nitrocellulose filter with bound variants istransferred to a container with citrate buffer, pH 4.5 and incubated at80° C. for 20 minutes (when screening for variants in the wild typebackbone) or 85° C. for 60 minutes (when screening for variants in theLE399 backbone). The cellulose acetate filters with colonies are storedon the TY-plates at room temperature until use. After incubation,residual activity is detected on assay plates containing 1% agarose,0.2% starch in citrate buffer, pH 6.0. The assay plates withnitrocellulose filters are marked the same way as the filter sandwichand incubated for 2 hours at 50° C. After removal of the filters theassay plates are stained with 10% Lugol solution. Starch degradingvariants are detected as white spots on dark blue background and thenidentified on the storage plates. Positive variants are re-screenedtwice under the same conditions as the first screen.

Secondary Screening

Positive transformants after rescreening are picked from the storageplate and tested in a secondary plate assay. Positive transformants aregrown for 22 hours at 37° C. in 5 ml LB+chloramphenicol. The Bacillusculture of each positive transformant and as a control a cloneexpressing the corresponding backbone are incubated in citrate buffer,pH 4.5 at 90° C. and samples are taken at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80minutes. A 3 microliter sample is spotted on an assay plate. The assayplate is stained with 10% Lugol solution. Improved variants are seen asvariants with higher residual activity (detected as halos on the assayplate) than the backbone. The improved variants are determined bynucleotide sequencing.

Stability Assay of Unpurified Variants:

Bacillus cultures expressing the variants to be analyzed are grown for21 hours at 37° C. in 10 ml LB+chloramphenicol. 800 microliter cultureis mixed with 200 microliters citrate buffer, pH 4.5. A number of 70microliter aliquots corresponding to the number of sample time pointsare made in PCR tubes and incubated at 70° C. (for variants in the wtbackbone) or 90° C. (for variants in LE399) for various time points(typically 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes) in a PCR machine. The 0 minsample is not incubated at high temperature. Activity in the sample ismeasured by transferring 20 to 200 microliters of the alpha-amylasePNP-G7 substrate MPR3 ((Boehringer Mannheim Cat. no. 1660730) asdescribed below under “Assays for Alpha-Amylase Activity”. Results areplotted as percentage activity (relative to the 0 time point) versustime, or stated as percentage residual activity after incubation for acertain period of time.

Fermentation and Purification of Alpha-Amylase Variants

A B. subtilis strain harboring the relevant expression plasmid isstreaked on an LB-agar plate with 10 micrograms/ml kanamycin from −80°C. stock, and grown overnight at 37° C.

The colonies are transferred to 100 ml PS-1 media supplemented with 10micrograms/ml chloamphinicol in a 500 ml shaking flask.

Composition of PS-1 Medium:

Pearl sugar 100 g/l  Soy Bean Meal 40 g/l Na₂HPO₄, 12H₂O 10 g/lPluronicTM PE 6100 0.1 g/l  CaCO₃  5 g/l

The culture is shaken at 37° C. at 270 rpm for 5 days.

Cells and cell debris are removed from the fermentation broth bycentrifugation at 4500 rpm in 20-25 minutes. Afterwards the supernatantis filtered to obtain a completely clear solution. The filtrate isconcentrated and washed on a UF-filter (10000 cut off membrane) and thebuffer is changed to 20 mM Acetate pH 5.5. The UF-filtrate is applied ona S-sepharose F.F. and elution is carried out by step elution with 0.2 MNaCl in the same buffer. The eluate is dialyzed against 10 mM Tris, pH9.0 and applied on a Q-sepharose F.F. and eluted with a linear gradientfrom 0-0.3 M NaCl over 6 column volumes. The fractions that contain theactivity is (measured by the Phadebas assay) are pooled, pH was adjustedto pH 7.5 and remaining color was removed by a treatment with 0.5%W/vol. active coal in 5 minutes.

Stability Determination of Purified Variants

All stability trials of purified variants are made using the same setup. The method is as follows:

The enzyme is incubated under the relevant conditions (1-4). Samples aretaken at various time points, e.g., after 0, 5, 10, 15 and 30 minutesand diluted 25 times (same dilution for all taken samples) in assaybuffer (0.1 M 50 mM Britton buffer pH 7.3) and the activity is measuredusing the Phadebas assay (Pharmacia) under standard conditions pH 7.3,37° C.

The activity measured before incubation (0 minutes) is used as reference(100%). The decline in percent is calculated as a function of theincubation time. The table shows the residual activity after, e.g., 30minutes of incubation.

Specific Activity Determination

The specific activity is determined using the Phadebas assay (Pharmacia)as activity/mg enzyme. The manufacturer's instructions are followed (seealso below under “Assay for Alpha-Amylase Activity”).

Assays for Alpha-Amylase Activity 1. Phadebas Assay

Alpha-amylase activity is determined by a method employing Phadebas®tablets as substrate. Phadebas tablets (Phadebas® Amylase Test, suppliedby Pharmacia Diagnostic) contain a cross-linked insoluble blue-coloredstarch polymer, which has been mixed with bovine serum albumin and abuffer substance and tableted.

For every single measurement one tablet is suspended in a tubecontaining 5 ml 50 mM Britton-Robinson buffer (50 mM acetic acid, 50 mMphosphoric acid, 50 mM boric acid, 0.1 mM CaCl₂, pH adjusted to thevalue of interest with NaOH). The test is performed in a water bath atthe temperature of interest. The alpha-amylase to be tested is dilutedin x ml of 50 mM Britton-Robinson buffer. 1 ml of this alpha-amylasesolution is added to the 5 ml 50 mM Britton-Robinson buffer. The starchis hydrolyzed by the alpha-amylase giving soluble blue fragments. Theabsorbance of the resulting blue solution, measuredspectrophotometrically at 620 nm, is a function of the alpha-amylaseactivity.

It is important that the measured 620 nm absorbance after 10 or 15minutes of incubation (testing time) is in the range of 0.2 to 2.0absorbance units at 620 nm. In this absorbance range there is linearitybetween activity and absorbance (Lambert-Beer law). The dilution of theenzyme must therefore be adjusted to fit this criterion. Under aspecified set of conditions (temp., pH, reaction time, bufferconditions) 1 mg of a given alpha-amylase will hydrolyze a certainamount of substrate and a blue color will be produced. The colorintensity is measured at 620 nm. The measured absorbance is directlyproportional to the specific activity (activity/mg of pure alpha-amylaseprotein) of the alpha-amylase in question under the given set ofconditions.

2. Alternative Method

Alpha-amylase activity is determined by a method employing the PNP-G7substrate. PNP-G7 which is a abbreviation for p-nitrophenyl-alpha,D-maltoheptaoside is a blocked oligosaccharide which can be cleaved byan endo-amylase. Following the cleavage, the alpha-glucosidase includedin the kit digest the substrate to liberate a free PNP molecule whichhas a yellow colour and thus can be measured by visible spectophometryat λ=405 nm (400-420 nm). Kits containing PNP-G7 substrate andalpha-Glucosidase is manufactured by Boehringer-Mannheim (cat. no.1054635).

To prepare the reagent solution 10 ml of substrate/buffer solution isadded to 50 ml enzyme/buffer solution as recommended by themanufacturer. The assay is performed by transferring 20 microlitersample to a 96 well microtiter plate and incubating at 25° C. 200microliters reagent solution pre-equilibrated to 25° C. is added. Thesolution is mixed and pre-incubated 1 minute and absorption is measuredevery 30 sec. over 4 minutes at OD 405 nm in an ELISA reader.

The slope of the time dependent absorption-curve is directlyproportional to the activity of the alpha-amylase in question under thegiven set of conditions.

EXAMPLES Example 1

Construction, by error-prone PCR mutagenesis, of Bacillus licheniformisalpha-amylase variants having an improved stability at low pH, hightemperature and low calcium ion concentration compared to the parentenzyme.

Error-Prone PCR Mutagenesis and Library Construction

To improve the stability at low pH and low calcium concentration of theparent Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase, error-prone PCR mutagenesiswas performed. The plasmid pDN1528 encoding the wild-type Bacilluslicheniformis alpha-amylase gene was utilized as template to amplifythis gene with primers: 22149: 5′-CGA TTG CTG ACG CTG TTA TTT GCG-3′(SEQ ID NO: 14) and 24814: 5′-GAT CAC CCG CGA TAC CGT C-3′ (SEQ ID NO:15) under PCR conditions where increased error rates leads tointroduction of random point mutations. The PCR conditions utilizedwere: 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.3, 50 mM KCl, 4 mM MgCl₂, 0.3 mM MnCl₂, 0.1mM dGTP/dATP, 0.5 mM dTTP/dCTP, and 2.5 units Taq polymerase per 100microliter reaction.

The resultant PCR fragment was purified on gel and used in a PCR-basedmultimerization step with a gel purified vector fragment created by PCRamplification of pDN1528 with primers #24: 5′-GAA TGT ATG TCG GCC GGCAAA ACG CCG GTG A-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 16) and #27: 5″-GCC GCC GCT GCT GCA GAATGA GGC AGC AAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 17) forming an overlap to the insertfragment. The multimerization reaction was subsequently introduced intoB. subtilis (Shafikhani et al., 1997, Biotechniques 23: 304-310).

Screening

The error-prone library described above was screened in the low pHfilter assay (see “Materials & Methods”). Clones testing positive uponrescreening was submitted to secondary screening for stability in theliquid assay described in Materials and Methods.

Results:

Increased stability at pH 4.5, 5 ppm calcium incubated at 90° C. Name wtLE488 LE489 7.19.1 8.9.1 Mutations — D207V K170Q E132A D207E D207V D207VE250G N280S H406L L427I Stability 1) — + + + + 1) A “+” indicatessignificant increase in stability relative to wild type.

Increased stability at pH 4.5, 5 ppm calcium incubated at 90° C. Name wtLE491 LE492 LE493 LE494 19.3.1 Mutations — D60N T49I T49I Q374R N190FD207V E132V K176R E385V A209V L318M V440A D207V Q393R Q264S Y402FStability 1) — + + + + + 1) A “+” indicates significant increase instability relative to wt.

Increased stability at pH 4.5, 5 ppm calcium incubated at 90° C. Name wtE132-1 D207-7 D207-6 E250-8 Mutations — E132P D207L D207G E250FStability 1) — + + + + 1) A “+” indicates significant increase instability relative to wt.

Example 2

Transfer, by site-directed mutagenesis, of a selection of mutations fromExample 1 to a new (non-wild type) backbone to improve stability at lowpH and low calcium ion concentration compared to the parent enzyme.

Site-Directed Mutagenesis

Mutations from LE493 (K176R+D207V+Y402F) were transferred to LE399yielding LE495. This was performed by the overlap PCR method (Kirchhoffand Desrosiers, 1993, PCR Methods and Applications 2: 301-304). 2overlapping PCR fragments were generated by amplification of the LE399template with the primers: Fragment A: #312 Mut176 5′-CCC GAA AGC TGAACC GCA TCT ATA GGT TTC AAG GGA AGA CTT GGG ATT-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 18)(mutated codon indicated in bold) and #290 D207overlap 5′-AGG ATG GTCATA ATC AAA GTC GG-3′(SEQ ID NO: 19); Fragment B: #313 Mut207 5′-CCG ACTTTG ATT ATG ACC ATC CTG TTG TCG TAG CAG AGA TTA AGA GAT GGG G-3′ (SEQ IDNO: 20) and #314 Mut402 5′-CGA CAA TGT CAT GGT GGT CGA AAA AAT CAT GCTGTG CTC CGT ACG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 21). Fragments A and B were mixed inequimolar ratios and subsequently the full-length fragment was amplifiedwith the external primers: #312 Mut176 and #314 Mut402. This fragmentwas used in a multimerization reaction with the vector PCR fragmentcreated with the primers #296 Y402multi 5′-TTT CGA CCA CCA TGA CAT TGTCG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 22) and #305 399Multi176 5′-TAT AGA TGC GGT TCA GCTTTC GGG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 23) on template LE399 as described above. Themultimerization reaction was subsequently transformed into B. subtilis.Clones were screened for stability in the assay mentioned above. Thepresence of the is mutations from LE493 in several clones with increasedstability was confirmed by sequencing.

LE 497 was obtained in a similar manner by amplifying the LE399 encodingtemplate with primers #312 Mut176 and #314 Mut402 and using theresulting PCR fragment in a multimerization reaction with a vectorfragment obtained by PCR amplification of the LE399 template with theprimers #296 Y402multi and #305 399Multi176.

Results:

Stabilization of LE399 variant at pH 4.5, 5 ppm calcium incubated at 90°C. Name LE399 LE495 LE497 Mutations — K176R K176R (backbone) D207V Y402FY402F Stability 1) — + + 1) A “+” indicates significant increase instability relative to backbone.

1. A variant of an alpha-amylase having at least 60% homology to SEQ IDNO.8, comprising an alteration at one or more positions selected fromthe group of: 49, 60, 104, 132, 161, 170, 176, 179, 180, 181, 183, 200,203, 204, 207, 212, 237, 239, 250, 280, 298, 318, 374, 385, 393, 402,406, 427, 430, 440, 444, 447, 482, wherein (a) the alteration(s) areindependently (i) an insertion of an amino acid downstream of the aminoacid which occupies the position, (ii) a deletion of the amino acidwhich occupies the position, or (iii) a substitution of the amino acidwhich occupies the position with a different amino acid, (b) the varianthas alpha-amylase activity, and (c) each position corresponds to aposition of the amino acid sequence of the alpha-amylase having theamino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO:
 8. 2. The variant of claim 1,which variant has one or more of the following mutations: T49I; D60N;N104D; E132A,V,P; D161N; K170Q; K176R; G179N; K180T; A181N; D183N;D200N; X203Y; D204S; D207V,E,L,G; X212I; K237P; S239W; E250G,F; N280S;X298Q; L318M; Q374R; E385V; Q393R; Y402F; H406L,W; L427I D430N; V440A;N444R,K; E447Q,K; Q482K using SEQ ID NO: 8 for the numbering.
 3. Thevariant of claim 1, wherein the variant has the following mutations:K170Q+D207V+N280S; E132A+D207V; D207E+E250G+H406L+L427I; D207V+L318M;D60N+D207V+L318M; T49I+E132V+V440A; T49I+K176R+D207V+Y402F;Q374R+E385V+Q393R; N190F+A209V+Q264S; G48A+T49I+G107A+I201F;T49I+G107A+I201F; G48A+T49I+I201F; G48A+T49I+G107A; T49I+I201F;T49I+G107A; G48A+T49I;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482K;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482K;D161 N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444K+E447Q+Q482K; D161N+A181 N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+E447Q+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+E447Q+Q482K;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+E447Q+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N;H406W+D430N; N444K+E447Q+Q482K; E447Q+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444R+N444K+E447K+Q482K;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W+H406W+D430N+N444R+N444K+E447K+Q482K;N104D+D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W;D161N+G179N+K180T+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W; H406W+D430N;N444K+E447K+Q482K; E447K+Q482K;N104D+D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W;N104D+D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P;N104D+D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S;D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P+S239W;D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S+K237P; D161N+A181N+D183N+D200N+D204S;K237P+S239W, using SEQ ID NO: 8 for the numbering.
 4. The variant ofclaim 1, wherein the parent alpha-amylase is derived from a strain of B.licheniformis (SEQ ID NO: 8), B. amyloliquefaciens (SEQ ID NO: 10), orB. stearothermophilus (SEQ ID NO: 6).
 5. The variant of claim 1, whereinthe parent alpha-amylase is any of: LE174; LE174+G48A+T49I+G107A+I201F;LE174+M197L; LE174+G48A+T49I+G107A+M197L+I201F.
 6. The variant of claim1, wherein the variant is mutated in one or more of the followingpositions: T511; D62N; N106D; D134A,V,P; D163N; X172Q; K179R; G184N;K185T; A186N; D188N; D205N; M208Y; D209S; X212V,E,L,G; L217I, K242P,S244W, N255G,F, N285S, S303Q, X323M; D387V, N395R; Y404F; H408L,W;X429I; D432N; V442A; X446R,K; X449Q,K; X484K, using SEQ ID NO: 4 for thenumbering.
 7. The variant of claim 1, wherein the variant has thefollowing mutations: E212V+N285S; D134A+E212V; N255G+H408L+X429I;E212V+X323M; D62N+E212V+X323M; T511+D134V+V442A; T511+K179R+E212V+Y404F;D387V+N395R; N195F+X212V+K269S, when using SEQ ID NO: 4 for thenumbering.
 8. The variant of claim 1, wherein the parent alpha-amylaseis selected from the group comprising: SEQ ID NO: 2; SEQ ID NO: 4; SEQID NO: 12; SEQ ID NO: 13; or KSM-AP1378.
 9. The variant of claim 1,wherein the parent alpha amylase is any of: SEQ ID NO. 4+D183*+G184*;SEQ ID NO. 4+D183*+G184*+N195F; SP722+D183*+G184*+M202L; SEQ ID NO.4+D183*+G184*+N195F+M202L; SEQ ID NO.6+I181*+G182*; SEQ IDNO.6+I181*+G182*+N193F; SEQ ID NO.6+I181*+G182*+M200L; SEQ IDNO.6+I181*+G182*+N193F+M200L; SEQ ID NO.12+D183*+G184*; SEQ IDNO.12+D183*+G184*+N195F; SEQ ID NO.12+D183*+G184*+M202L; SEQ IDNO.12+D183*+G184*+N195F+M202L.
 10. The variant of claim 1, wherein theparent alpha-amylase has an amino acid sequence which has a degree ofidentity to SEQ ID NO: 8 of at least 70%, more preferably at least 80%,even more preferably at least about 90%, even more preferably at least95%, even more preferably at least 97%, and even more preferably atleast 99%.
 11. The variant of claim 1, wherein the parent alpha-amylaseis encoded by a nucleic acid sequence, which hybridizes under low,preferably medium, preferred high stringency conditions, with thenucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 7. 12. The variant of claim 1, whichvariant has altered stability, in particular at high temperatures from70-120° C. and/or low pH in the range from pH 4-6
 13. A DNA constructcomprising a DNA sequence encoding an alpha-amylase variant according toclaim
 1. 14. A recombinant expression vector which carries a DNAconstruct according to claim
 13. 15. A cell which is transformed with aDNA construct according to claim 13 or a vector according to claim 14.16. The cell according to claim 15, which is a microorganism, preferablya bacterium or a fungus.
 17. The cell according to claim 16, which cellis a gram-positive bacterium, such as Bacillus subtilis, Bacilluslicheniformis, Bacillus lentus, Bacillus brevis, Bacillusstearothermophilus, Bacillus alkalophilus, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens,Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus circulans, Bacillus lautus or Bacillusthuringiensis.
 18. A composition comprising an alpha-amylase variant ofclaim
 1. 19. The composition of claim 18, further comprising a B.stearothermophilus alpha-amylase, particular in a ratio of 1:10 to 10:1,preferably 1:2.
 20. The composition of claim 18, wherein the compositionfurther comprises a glucoamylase, pullulanase and/or a phytase.
 21. Adetergent composition comprising an alpha-amylase variant according toclaim
 1. 22. A detergent composition of claim 21, which additionallycomprises another enzyme such as a protease, a lipase, a peroxidase,another amylolytic enzyme, glucoamylase, maltogenic amylase, CGTase,mannanase, cutinase, laccase and/or a cellulase.